Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

In rac e two , Conne ll go t th e holeshot and the $250 Cy cl e News Holeshot Award that we nt a long with it but , althou gh he ran in t he lead group throughout , he was fifth a t the time of the red nag. T h e red flag in ra ce two was brought out after Gr egory Leffler crashed his Suzuk i exiting tu rn five, his b ike end in g up in a precarious position on the edge of the track . At that po int, F -US A officials opted to sto p the race. With race offi cials det e rm in ing that the req uisite SO-pe rcent ra ce distance had been covered, the ra ce wasn 't restarted - much to the dismay of th e fa ns. Th us , the finishing o rder was det e rmined by go ing back to th e la st c om plete lap . That left Higbee, Cha se a nd Lopez as th e top three finish ers . Valvo line EMGO Su zu k i' s Gr ant Lopez was a fact or a ll da y, as he po s itioned his Michelin -sh od S uzuki GSXR750 at the front of the pa c k for all of race one , a nd ne a r the front in race two. Lopez e nded up fifth in the first race and was fortu na te to not crash in the second race when he lost the fron t in turn eight, sav ing the bike with his knee. Th e nea r crash cost him a sh ot at th e win , bu t he managed to ha ng on to finis h th ird - after run ning out of time to recover, thanks to the red nag . "Th e second race was going reall y good : Lopez ex plained. "I started farther ba c k - I started on row two there with m y fifth fro m the first rac e . I go t a good start and I th ink tha t I wa s run ning fourth for a while th ere , made it up to th ird and th en p icked them off one by one. I got in the lead on that one la p, towards what happened to be the end, and was fee ling pretty good, rea l comfortable with the bike. I guess I pushed too hard in e ight and lost the front tire really bad. Th e bike was on the ground - I wa s on my kne e, just sliding . Two guys ca me b y, and , at that spe e d , I wa s ju st sli di ng. I wa s able to get it back on its whee ls a nd continue on - I wa s just really luc ky . That la p wa s the lap that they finis hed the race on, and that put m e in third." Another rider wh o had a d e c ent day was Corona Extra/ EBSCO Suzuki's Jimmy Moore , who finis hed ins id e the top five in both leg s of Unlimited Superbike . Moo re worked his wa y into the lead on lap two of the second leg , but then slowly lost ground as the huge pa c k trad e d positions . "My clutch was chattering on th e s tart , and I d idn't get a very good sta rt ," Moore said of the first race . "That gave m e a lot of work to do . About three bikes we nt a ro und me in the first turn , a nd I got a round the m as q uic k as I could, and there was a gap to the leaders. I did my be st to catch t he m . I do n't k now w ho crashed in t u rn five [it wa s La nce Isaacs], but watc hing that sort of tem pered m e. I th o u g h t , ' y o u k no w I could easily end up that way .' I just did my best to be cons istent a nd try to run th e m dow n. And then , once I ca ught them, th ey were jus t s low ly dying, the whole le ad pace was slow ing down. I'm not sure how we did on the dyno, but I'm p retty sure they have a little bit more juice than us . Th is is our [AMA) 750 Supersport bike." Former NCR Ducati World Superbike rider Lance Isa acs qualified well at Willow Spring s in his role as a fillin ride r for Matt Wait on the S yne rgy Racing Ho nd a s . Isa acs started from fi ft h pl a c e o n th e g rid wi t h h is 1:2 3 .2 5 9 qualifyi ng t ime - not bad considering it was h is first outing a t Willow. Unfortuna tely, he crashed his Honda CBR929RR on the second lap of the race in turn five. "Un fo rt u n a t e ly , I was go in g rea l good in th e Superbike ra ce - in race o ne," Isaa c s expl a in e d . "I g ot a b it greedy on th e ga s ex iting tu rn one on the sta rt and the gu ys m a de a slight gap on me , a nd t hen entering turn five I ran it in too hot an d hit it on the casi ngs a nd lost th e front end. Unfor tunately, that was it for race on e . In race two, I had to start fro m the back of the grid. I passed a whole pa c k of g uys into tu rn o ne , probably about 12 g uy s . I was fi g h ti n g all t h e way through . I was doing th e same times , if not quicker than the front gu ys , just catching everybody. Unfortunately, they red -nagged the race, and I finishe d 16th [actually 17th] ." CN Willow Springs IIaclIway RaSllmand, ClIlifamia Resuns :AprilZZ,ZOOl UNUMITED SUPERBIKE LEG 1: I. Craig Conn ell (Due); 2 . Shawn Higbee ( Suz) ; 3. Kennet h Chase (Suz): 4. J im my Moor e (Suz); 5. Grant Lop ez (Suz); 6. Paul Harrell (Yam) ; 7. Vincent Haskovec (Suz); 8. Micha el Ciccotto (Suz); 9 . Trey Batey (A pr); 10. Lee Ac ree ( Su z) ; 11. Br ia n Parri ott (S uz); 12. MaTC Palazzo (Hon) ; 13. Tony Meiring (S uz); 14 . Brya n Kovarick (Yam) ; 15. Michael Barn es (Kaw) : 16. Chris Ulri ch (Suz): 17. J oseph Gill (Yom): 18. Eric Wood ( Su z) : 19 . T y Howard (Kaw ) : 2 0 . M i cha el Himmelsbach (A pr) : 21. Gregory Leffler (Suz ): 22 . Mark Ledesm a (A pr) ; 23 . Aaron Clark (A pr ); 24 . Shone Prieto (Suz) : 25. Charl es Chouinard (Suz) ; 26. Byron Barbour (Suz) ; 27. Roland Williams (Suz ); 28. Scott Jensen (Vam) ; 29. Peter Ch ristensen (Yam) ; 30 . Ashley McK eon (Suz); 3 1. Jo shua Bryon (Suz) ; 32 . Justin Blake (Suz); 33 . Alan Burtt (Suz) : 34 . Martin Sims ( Yam ): 35 . Will iam Pogue (Suz) ; 3 6 . Kiyoshige Watanabe (Hon) . TIme: 16 min. 43 .10 1 sec. Distanc e: 30 miles Average speed: 107.666 mp h Marg in of victory: .23 7 sec. UNLIMI T ED SUPERBIKE LE G 2 ; I . Sh awn Hig be e (Su z) ; 2 . Kenneth Chase (S uz ) ; 3 . Gr ant Lopez (Suz ): 4. Jimmy Moore (Suz); 5. Crai g Connell (D ue ) ; 6. M i c ha el C ic co tto ( Su z) ; 7 . Vin c en t Heskc vec (Suz); 8. Lee Acree (Suz): 9. Bria n Parrio tt (Suz): 10. Paul Harrell ( Yam) ; 11. Brya n Ko varick ( Yam); 12 . Tony Meir ing (SOl ) ; J3. Ma rc Palazzo (Ha n) ; 14 . M ichael Barn es (Ka w) ; 15. Tr ay Bat ey (.... pr) : 16 . Joseph G ill ( Ya m) ; 17. Lan ce l seec s ( Ho n ); 18 . T y Howa rd ( Ka w ) : 19 . M i ch ael Himmelsbach (Apr): 20 . J oe Prussiano ( Yam ); 21. Mlirk Ledes ma ( A pr); 22 . Aaron Cla rk (Apr) ; 23 . Chris Ulrich (Suz); 24 . Rol and Willia ms (Suz) ; 25 . Shone Prieto (Suz); 26. Eri c Wood (Suz) ; 27 . Charle s Cho uina rd ( Suz) ; 28. B yron Bar b our (S uz) : 29 . Jo shua Bry an (Suz); 3 0 . Scott J en sen (Ya m): 31. Ju stin Bl ak e (Suz); 32. A shley McK ean (Suz); 3 3. Marti n Sims (YlIm); 34. Al an Burtt (Suz); 35. Willi am Pogue (Suz): 36 . Kiyoshige Watanabe (Hon ). UNLIM ITE D SUPERBIKE C ' S H IP PO INT STA NDINGS (A ft er 2 of 6 rou nds ): I. Cra ig Conneli (56 l /w in ); 2. Grant Lopez (52/1) ; 3. Shown Higbee (5 1/1) : 4. Kenneth Chose (46); 5. Lee Acree (27): 6. Ji m my Moore (26); 7. Brian Parriott (2 1) ; 8. (Tie ) Vince nt Haskcv ec (1 8 )/ Mic htlel Cicco tto (1 8) ; 10. (Tie) Paul Harrell ( 16)/Byron Barbour (16 ); 12. Troy Batey (15 ) : 13 . Br ian Stok es ( I I) ; 14 . Che rle a Cho ul ne rd (8) ; 15 . ( Tie) Tony Mei ri ng (7 ) / Bryan Kovarick (7) / Mork Palazzo (7) . Upcom ing Round s: Round 3 - Alton, Virginia, July 1 Round 4 - Long Pond, Pennsylvania. August 26 For m ul a USA Sportbike S e r ie s B y B LA K E C O NN ER P H O T O S BY B RIA N N E L SO N ROSAMOND, CA. APR. 22 s it turns out, the Sportbike race at Willow S prings Int e rn a t io na l Raceway was inconclusive a nd anticlimactic - a resu lt of the post-ra c e disqualifi ca tio n s t ha t wip e d o ut two thir ds of the podium . On the positive sid e , how ev e r, was the fact that the winner - Pau l Harrell on h is Pirelli -shod Shogun Moto rs p o rts Yamaha R6 - was never in question . Harrell led the pack across th e st ripe on each and every lap of th e 12-lap fi n a l, somehow a lways managing to hold off th e angry mob that pursued him. Arclight Suzuki's Brian Parriott and Corona Extra/EBSCO Suzuk i's Vin cent Has ko vec headed up that pursu in g pack in the ear ly g o ing , wi t h Ha s kove c 's teammate a nd second fa stest qualifier Jim my Moore a lso in the hu nt - until th e second la p whe n he rolle d to a stop at the end of the front straigh t witho ut a s hift leve r. Others in the pursuing peloton were Joseph Gill on his 4&6 Ra cing Yama ha R6 , Michael Ciccotto on th e Hooters S uzuki, pole s itter Marc Pa lazzo on his Synergy Racin g Honda a nd team mate South African Lance Isaacs, who was also on a CBR60 0F4 i. While t h e pac k fo ug ht amongst themselves, Harre ll s low ly but su rely pulled awa y - putt ing a one -second g ap between himsel f and Ha s ko ve c on the fifth la p. "The race wasn 't re ally that exc iting for me," Harrell said . "I knew tha t the qualifying times were close and I knew that if I got caug ht in th e pa c k th at we were goi ng to be fighting over it. I just had to sp lit. You kno w try to pull a n old IJeremy] McGrath dea l - s plit a nd A cue I e let eve ryone else fight for it. I just took a loo k over m y shoulder every now and then and ke pt my distance." Late in the ra c e , Haskovec started making a run at Harrell as t h e EBSCO S uzuk i rider was the best o f the rest at kn ifing his way th ro ug h traffi c in turn eig ht - the a ll-im po rta nt corner that leads to turn nine a nd the fro nt s tra ight. Acree, on the Arclight Suzuki, had slotted into third place on th e secondto -last lap and was running stro ng , but his teammate Parriott was rig ht on his back tire. On the last la p, Par riott just inched past Acree at the line for the fina l podium position. As is of ten the case with horsepower-limited racing, however , what we saw on th e t ra c k wasn 't what en d e d up b e ing th e fina l fini s hi n g order. With the top -five b ikes having to pas s a post -ra ce procedure that c onsis te d of a dyn o run and a we ight check, two of th e th ree podium finish ers - Hasko ve c and Pa rriott - were d isqualified for mak in g too m uch ho rs epower. Their loss was Acree an d Pa lazzo's gain a s th ey moved up two notche s in the final ta lly. Both ride rs had be en in the m ix for the entire race, but it was still di s ap pointing to see Haskovec and Pa rriott taken out of the results after thei r two hard rides. "I just tried to get a good sta rt a nd work m y way t hro ug h," Acree s ai d . "T he win d being calm tod a y hel ped me a lot; we strugg led all weeken d wit h th e w ind . We m ad e so me c hanges to the bike, and found some stuff with it, so the b ike was flaw less. If I had got m y act to g ether a littl e earlie r, ma yb e I c o u ld have got up there wit h Pa u l [Ha rrell) and had a shot at it." n e _ ,.. • MAY 9 , 2001 35

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